AS Biology

I have had a lot of requests recently for extra notes, PowerPoints and questions. There has been so many recently that I can’t reply to all the comments individually. As always, thanks for the suggestions- I will try to make all the improvements mentioned. Remember there are plenty of A2 resources as well when you get to that stage. Also remember that many past paper questions and answers are available on the exam board website- that is where I get most of mine from 🙂

Here are my PowerPoints from class- remember the videos won’t work as they are saved on my computer. I found them on You Tube, if you want a copy of them bring a USB to lesson and I’ll put them on there for you….

Thankyou so much for all this work, you’re amazing!! its been so useful and there are lots of us who really really appreciate it!

By: becky on May 9, 2013 at 8:22 pm

Mrs Millier i found this for my son who is taking a level biology and would just like to say thank you so much, it so refreshing to find a teacher who shows so much comitment to teaching xx

By: michelle on January 22, 2014 at 1:25 pm

Thanks very much! I hope your son does well in his exams. A’level is a big jump from GCSEs, and past papers are the key, so if he can do as many as possible, it will really improve his grade. Good luck!

By: lf788 on January 22, 2014 at 1:35 pm

I think that the school that you work at are extremely lucky. If only every teacher put this much effort into their pupils and cared about their progress so much. This website is brilliant and hopefully it will help me attain an A in my January F211 exam. Thanks you Mrs Miller- you are a superstar!

Thank you, so much, for the exam questions you put up =) I was predicted a C/D from mocks and the like for my F211 module. Thanks to you I could focus on my weaker spots in exams [organised questions = godsend] & managed to, somehow, pull an A out of the bag! So THANK YOU!

Thank you for that! 🙂
& I feel I worked harder for Chemistry what I ended up getting a C in. So I don’t know! But I’m going to use the past papers/questions for all of my exams this time around more than anything else so I’m hoping that it pays off/the method continues to work! 🙂

This site is so so helpful! Thank you so much! I was just wondering if you knew when the January 2011 paper would be up on the OCR website? At my school my teacher gave us one of the papers but i would like to see both papers and have a look at the mark schemes.

The lymphatic system is part of the immune system. There is informartion on lymph on one of my PowerPoints. I will try to find out where and if I haven’t uploaded it, I will put it on in the next 24 hours 🙂

You can also look on the specification on the OCR website (Unlesss you are with another exam board)

thanks so much this site is such a great help for the OCR exam! I’m so scared though, because ive done really badly in my coursework, i think its a C. Is it still possible for me to get an A? Can i afford to be getting middle A’s in papers or do I have to get high A’s for me to get an A overall?

Hi, This is a difficult question to answer as it depends on the marks you got for your coursework. If you can’t re-sit your coursework, then I would try to get middle to high A grades to guarantee an A. If you get low A grades you may get a B overall. Don’t worry too much over this. I know an A looks great on your exam certificate, but unless you are aiming for Oxford or Cambridge universities etc. the impportant thing is to be accepted for A’Levels and to get the grades you need for that. Most universities say that you need certain A’Level grades and a minimum of a C grade to get onto the course. If you really want an A, I would say either try to re-sit your coursework or aim for a middle to high A. I’m assuming you have done a ‘science in the news’ essay in year 10, or maybe a research and data task in year 11? You should be able to do another one if you ask your teacher… good luck 🙂

Hello, ive found this really helpful for revision as i have been struggling, however i was wondering if you had any past exam questions for module one F211 as i cant find any anywhere like the ones that you have posted on here for module 2, thank you 🙂

Hi Faye, I only teach one side of the specification, if you go on the exam board website, you should find them there… I don’t have access to my work computer as I’m on maternity leave until next July. There is a link on my blog to the OCR site though. I hope this helps 🙂

Hey what you should do is merge all F212 questions/answers in one big file, that would be fantastic.
But still, it is very useful to have them in modules.
Did you use all the past papers up until 2010/11 to make them?

Hi, Thanks for the comment. I teach the other modules, and I’m off on maternity leave until September so I can’t add any more resources until then. If you message me again during your A2 course though, I can add some topics from both sides for you 🙂

Oh okay, don’t worry! I am already doing my A2 course and I have an AS re-take. Thank you so much for compiling these resources though, they have definitely helped me a great deal!

By: Ayesha on January 15, 2012 at 7:18 pm

Just a general enquiry… Currently doing A2 Biology, got a top B at AS (A in F211 first time round, B in F212 and A in F213 so I was jus a tiny amount of ums off an A)… However, didn’t do so well (got a C) in F214 and, as a result of this, have to resit it to get my A for university…. What would you say are the key steps to success in OCR A Level Biology? Moreover, is it useful to use just one textbook or all 3.. I have the CGP, Cambridge OCR (Green), Phillip Allan Student guide for f214 and f215, and Heinemann OCR (Purple and Black)…. need my grade and sooo worried…. thanks.

Hi Andy, The best advice I can give you, is advice that is probably never followed by many students. The thing to do is to go onto the OCR website and firstly download the teacher’s specification: here is the link http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/ocr_9600_kd_gce_spec.pdf You then need to look at all the teaching points for F214 (and the other units you are doing) Make sure you use the textbooks you have to cover the points listed, and when you are happy you understand each point 100%, do as many past papers as you can! This is honestly the best way to get an A grade and so few students do this. You must start early enough that you have time to organise yourself- the level of problem solving at A’ Level is extremely high and by practising past paper questions you have time to digest the way that the exam board ask questions- you can also look at the mark scheme as sometimes the answers they are looking for seem either quite simple or totally bizarre. The reason most students don’t follow this advice is that it takes organisation and a bit of dedication, but if you do this, an A grade will be no problem! I hope this helps and thanks very much for taking the time to ask a great question! Let me know how you get on with F214!

hey i love your site! its so useful and there is so much material on here. Is there any chance you could put up exam questions and answers about malaria, HIV and TB in the AS Unit 2 section please? thanks.

I’m off work on maternity leave at the moment, so I have no acces to the other units just now. If you have a look at the books I recommend, there should be ones available that covers those units as well.

Wow! Thank you so much for this wonderful website! I am doing AS Biology and was getting C’s and D’s in test results – yesterday I got my first A and that was all down to revising by doing practice questions!! Do you know if there are any chemistry websites like this which have practice questions??

Wow, that is excellent! I’m really glad you got your A, you must have worked really hard! Unfortunately, I don’t know of many Chemistry websites except for Doc Browns Chemistry here http://www.docbrown.info/page14/page14.htm but I’m not sure which exam board he uses!

Hi Nora, thanks for the comment! To be honest, the CGP books are pretty good. Every book is going to have the information it’s just a matter of which one you prefer to read. We all know that reading and trying to understand can be tiring and boring at times, so whichever one you choose, you are going to find some things challenging. The best books are the ones that you find easy to follow with a layout that suits your learning style. As long as the book is made for the exam board you are using, you should have no problem. Just remember to do past papers, as that’s the key to a top grade! I’m glad you find the site helpful!

This website is absolutely awesome! I can’t believe how much effort you put in, it’s amazing! I need to try and get an A in Biology as I wish to study Medicine in the future. Your site is absolutely ace! Hope I can get an A, even if I keep being told I can’t! 🙂

No one can ever tell you that you can’t get an A… If you work hard at home and you can answer all the past papers on this site, you can get an A no problem at all! If fact if someone told me I couldn’t get an A I’d work even harder to prove them wrong! You can do it! Good luck 🙂

Thanks very much for the message. Although I am no longer teaching at the moment. You have seriously made me consider writing a new blog with updated syllabus material. It means a lot to have everyone’s comments and appreciation for the notes I have put on here. Thanks very much!